In recent times, a substantial industry has been developed around providing coils of electric welding wire in square cardboard boxes. This is because welding has become a dominant process in fabricating industrial and commercial products. Applications for welding are wide spread and used throughout the world. Examples include the construction of ships, buildings, vehicles and pipe lines. Welding is also used in repairing or modifying existing products. Among the various methods of joining metal components, arc welding is one well known and very common process.
Arc welding may employ consumable welding wire, which in some instances may be wound on a spool for ease of dispensing. For purposes of protection during storage and shipping, such spools may be placed in cardboard cartons. Conventional cardboard boxes have been modified by a variety of structural elements in an effort to solve the many and diverse problems experienced by use of these boxes. While such cartons have provided sufficient protection during bulk shipment of spooled electrodes to distributors, the market for direct-to-consumer shipping requires additional safeguards for spools. For example, where a single spool of wire is shipped in a single container, there is a tendency of the wire spool to deform when the carton is dropped or otherwise impacted due to the weight/inertia of the welding wire and the forces it imparts onto the spool when dropped. If the wire spool deforms, it may become unusable for a welding procedure (e.g., causes problems during wire feeding).